1. Field of the Disclosure
The present disclosure relates to a steering switch device, which is mounted on a steering wheel of vehicles and used for operating various electronic devices such as audio equipment and an automatic transmission.
2. Description of the Related Art
In the related art, it is known technology where a steering switch device is mounted inside a ring portion (annular portion), which is a grip portion of a steering wheel of a vehicle and then a driver manually perform upshifting or downshifting when travelling in a drive range, by operating the steering switch. Further, the steering wheel is provided with a pad portion inside the grip portion with a spoke portion interposed and thus the steering switch device are often mounted on the spoke portion.
As an example of such a steering switch device in the related art, a device has been proposed in which a plurality of operating keys capable of a pressing operation and an operating body capable of a tilting operation are arranged in the spoke portion of the steering wheel (for example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2006-228620). Here, a housing having an opening portion is fixed to the spoke portion and the operating keys or the operating body is arranged and operably supported on the opening portion formed in the housing. In addition, a circuit board or a rubber sheet is accommodated and held inside the housing and the rubber sheet and the circuit board configure a rubber switch. That is, the rubber switch is configured by a movable contact provided inside a bulging portion of the rubber sheet and a fixed contact arranged on the circuit board. The movable contact and the fixed contact oppose each other, leaving a predetermined gap, so as to be capable of connecting and disconnecting.
Each rubber switch is configured such that when the operating keys are in the pressing operation or the operating body is in the tilting operation, the bulging portion of the corresponding rubber switch is thrust and elastically goes through buckling distortion, which causes the movable contact to come into contact with the fixed contact so as to output an ON signal. In addition, if operating force is removed with respect to the operating keys or the operating body, the bulging portion of the rubber switch automatically returns to its original shape due to its elasticity. Accordingly, the movable contact is disconnected from the fixed contact and returns to an OFF state.
Incidentally, vehicles are equipped with various electronic devices which are operated by a driver. However, in recent years, the types of operated electronic devices have increased and increased functionality of the respective electronic devices is also promoted. Accordingly, the need to arrange a plurality of operating knobs (the operating keys or the operating body) around a driver's seat is increasing. Therefore, even in the steering switch device, there is a demand for a structure where many operating knobs can be arranged. However, in the case of the steering switch device mounted on the spoke portion of the steering wheel in the related art, it has been difficult to arrange many operating knobs which are individually incorporated in the opening portion of the housing. That is, the operating knobs operated by a finger of the driver are required to have a necessary size. Attempts to densely arrange the operating knobs simply by miniaturizing may cause impaired operability. Accordingly, it has been difficult to arrange many operating knobs on the spoke portion in the related art.